While Parappa is quite the under rated franchise, this PSP port leaves you wanting more
Parappa the Rapper is a port of the original Parappa the Rapper on the PS1. Back then the game was amazing, catchy tunes and somewhat original gameplay, for there werent many rhythm games back then. And does it hold up? The songs sure do, but everything else, not so much.
Parappa is a pretty simple game. There are several stages in the game, and each stage involves you rapping to your "Rap Master's" beat. The rap master raps, then you must repeat it. So basically, buttons appear on the top of the screen going to the beat of the rap master, and you must repeat it to the same beat. At first it is hard, you think you are getting it right but you actually end up hitting the buttons too late, however, after a couple tries it gets simple ...too simple. The gameplay is so simple that it leaves no room for a difficult difficulty, I mean the game could be harder, but once you got the gist of the game down, its very easy. Now in order to pass a level, you must get a cool or good rating. This does not take that much skill, if you mess up twice, you go down a rating and if you do well twice, you go up a rating. There is Cool Good Bad and Awful. Cool rating however can only be achieved by out rapping the rap master, something that actually proves to be quite difficult, probably the hardest thing in the game. The graphics in Parappa arent that great. They are pretty much just a smoothed out version of the same graphics on the PS1 version. But they still look great, it has a great style and the art is amazing. The characters are all 2D, but everything else is 3D. But despite all of this greatness, some of the level design sucks. I mean it isnt like you are going to be going anywhere, but some levels look like they were thrown together at last minute. And character animation is pretty sub par too, it looks so robotic, and at other times it just looks ridiculous.
The Sound in Parappa is amazing. The Music is some of the best I have ever seen in a Rhythm game ever. Its very catchy, although some might not like its repetitiveness (just look at some gameplay and you will get what i mean). Sound effects are few and character voices can be very very annoying but the music is what counts and it delivers on that part.
The game is short, it can be completed in under a half an hour, but there is much replay value to have here. There is a multiplayer, but i wouldnt know how it is because no one has a PSP... You can also download remixes of the songs, however, each song sucks so far, and the originals are so superior that you wont even want to touch the downloadables. Parappa the Rappa is a short unappreciated rhythm game that should of been more than a port. The old songs are great, and for those who havent experienced Prappas greatness should check it out. But by todays standards, they should of at least added some new content that isnt just crappy remixes that you need to download, or ported they coulda Parappa the Rappa 2 as well. Its nice to see Sony is paying attention to an old franchise, however, this old game should of been spruced up more. Even with Parappas intense replay value, at $30, its just not worth it. A definite rent, but if you were you, I would wait till its $10, because thats the price it should be. 7.8/10, Rounded up to 8/10